Ed Burch and friends - really

I never made it to one of the legendary original Hideout Monday nights featuring Edward Burch, though I've heard many tales about them. I always wanted to go, but the timing was never right. It's kind of a shame, then, that the Monday night show I finally attended was the one where Ed said goodbye to Chicago. Nevertheless, he bid farewell to the Hideout in style - so in some ways it was a perfect capsule of his many Hideout shows, with friends who played with him along the way.

I did actually catch Ed and friends performing Satan is Real last summer, and a song or two from that album made appearances again - among a buffet of musical treats diverse enough to appeal to any audience. Ed played two sets on Monday night, each about an hour and a half in length. The first set was the more tightly orchestrated of the two (literally, in some cases, since a string quartet was on hand.) The second set was much more loose and informal - not that there's anything too formal about an evening at the Hideout in any case.

After playing a few songs with his first guests, Ed asked LeRoy Bach to join him onstage. Together they played my two favorite LeRoy songs - "Special Day" and "Dad Says." (Full disclosure: they're also the only two LeRoy songs I know. But I do love them both.) I've seen LeRoy play many instruments over the years, but had never seen him simply singing with an acoustic guitar - I'm glad I got the chance at least once. More guests followed LeRoy, and I was delighted when the string quartet joined the crowd on stage and masterfully performed John Cale's "Paris 1919." Complete with trumpet. That's one of my (hundred or so) favorite songs, as you may be able to tell from the "About me" quote on this very blog.

A little later Ed called Jay Bennett up to join the party. Obviously Jay is partially responsible for a lot of my favorite music, so it was really nice to see him live at last. He and Ed are clearly good friends - one of the hallmarks of the night was definitely the relaxed, playful interaction between all of the musicians on stage, but it was especially true for Ed and Jay. They played an absolutely gorgeous version of "Venus Stopped the Train" with the string quartet, with Jay contributing some amazing piano work.

So many musicians joined in on stage that I couldn't name them all. John Peacock, Steve Frisbie, Andy Leach, even Pat Sansone for one song. Song choices ranged wide from Boston covers to Doug Sahm; from Beach Boys to Bee Gees; from Feetwood Mac to Willie Nelson. Sam's encore request for ELO was granted beautifully by Ed solo on the piano. Throughout the night it was plain to see how much respect everyone has for Ed - many musicians thanked him for all the music he introduced to them. Many came from out of town (some out of state) to be part of his farewell show. It was also obvious how much people will miss him. The residents of Austin will be adding another great musician to their scene, but I hope Ed won't be a stranger to Chicago.